Veerle De Colvenaer

As a bioengineer and a PhD in Medical sciences I have built a thorough knowledge of oncology, immunology, cell analysis and omics technologies and the culture of academic research. After this first gain of insights and skills, I pursued an industry career. In several roles in medical device and lab equipment development companies in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany I experienced the challenges of bringing lab-built prototypes to CE-IVD certified products on the market. This already showed me the benefits of multidisciplinary innovation, cross-company collaborations, and user-centric product development. Convinced of the power of partnerships, I joined several clusters as innovation manager such as flanders.bio and MedVia and was an enabler in the onset of Flanders Vaccine and ATMP Flanders. This showed me the way to -at that time- a new passion: making innovation concrete, so I created Efika Sciences, an EU-oriented grant writing and innovation management consultancy agency. End of 2023, I decided to practice what I preach and started together with Vincent Dupont LiveLunger a startup company active in the creation of innovative eHealth solutions in the respiratory domain. With the team of LiveLunger it is our vision to «revolutionize respiratory care» through the accomplishment of our mission: «innovate – breathe – thrive».